The Ora in L abora by Fr. Meinrad Miller
Work has always
held an important place in the daily lives of Christians. Since the foundation of our own monastic community in 1857, the monks have worked side by side with the people of God. When one thinks of life in Kansas in the early days of the monastery, there certainly were not many of the comforts we have come to expect, either for the monks, or the people we served. It was through a tenacious fidelity to the Gospel, and a love for those that they served, that the monks and the people toiled in this new territory, and within a few years after our foundation, this new state. What role has work played in our lives? Work is more than just bringing in a pay check, or staying occupied. Being made in the image and likeness of God, our life in God is lived in every aspect of daily life, and this includes our work. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, ¶1265, reminds us: Baptism not only purifies from all sins, but also makes neophyte “a new creature,” an adopted son of God, who become a “partaker of the divine nature,” (2 Cor 5:17; 2 Pet cf. Gal 4:5-7) member of Christ and coheir with him, (1 6:15; 12:27; Rom 8:17) and a temple of the Holy Spirit.(1 6:19.)
the has 1:4; Cor Cor
Our lives and our work are rooted in the revealed truth that all we do is not just our own work, but is indeed united to the work of God who has created everything out of nothing. As a new creature, we have a great role in sharing the life of the creator in all that we do. In his introduction to the abridged version of RB 1980, The Rule of St. Benedict in English, Fr. Timothy Fry, OSB, a monk of St. Benedict’s Abbey, describes the role the Rule of St. Benedict has had on forming culture He wrote his Rule primarily for monks, but its sound principles for working together and living together have proved relevant to people of all classes of society through fifteen hundred years. Over the years the work of the monks has included farming, gardening, building and taking care of the buildings on campus, serving as military chaplains, teaching and administering in the schools, serving as missionaries and monks in Brazil, serving as retreat masters, being scholars and authors, serving as chaplains at motherhouses of sisters, and many other roles. In this spirit of uniting our work with our Father in Heaven, I offer you five things we can learn about work, based on the above quote passage from the Catechism.
Father Meinrad Miller, OSB, has been a monk of St. Benedict’s Abbey since 1986. Currently he serves as Oblate Director and Choirmaster of the Abbey, Lecturer in Theology at Benedictine College, Associate State Chaplain of the Knights of Columbus of Kansas, and as a part time chaplain at Valley Hope of Atchison.
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Kansas Monks
